Final score: Bradley 69 Missouri State 60

[bradleyfan124]

What the hell has happened to Atlason?
Missing in action...Duke Dean...very disinterested tonight with terrible lazy turnovers...

Atlason is in his Sophomore slump

[Dub]

I had thought playing Linke was at first a wake up move for Hannah on a sub out…. But later I saw he was trying to protect our bigs from foul trouble against big BU Scoring History In the end, Linke was rather effective guarding 23 such that he passed out of most of his inside touches. Linke is Linke, but the kid can guard and rebound… and had a couple nice assists. It’s his handle and his own O that lack, of course. I like his play and his attitude.

[Da Coach]

Box score: Bradley 69 Missouri State 60 - https://missouristatebears.com/sport.../boxscore/7016
Attendance- 5,816 (it looked bigger than that)

Not the prettiest game, but Coach Wardle seemed satisfied with everything in his post game comments.
And I usually wouldn't be negative after a win, but there were a couple things I hope get cleaned up...

First, the things I saw as positives-
> I loved the way this game was officiated, as opposed to the whistle-fest by the three officials that did the last game. The three different officials tonight allowed some contact by defenders on both teams, and didn't try to compete with each other for the most foul calls. And, the calls seemed consistent for both teams. I didn't see any players or coaches barking about the calls, so both teams must have felt they got a fair shake.
> Terrific games by Darius Hannah, Christian Davis, and Corey Thomas. While the guards struggled a bit, these 3 guys carried the offense, and all 3 played great defense.
> The defense was great by pretty much everyone who played. And after a slow start (37.5% shooting in 1st half), the offense heated up in the 2nd half (61.9% shooting in the 2nd half). Bradley's defense held Missouri State's top scorer, Dez White, to 1-10 from the floor.
> Good contributions from the bench players. Corey Thomas was terrific, and Demarion Burch, Connor Dillon, and Jaquan Johnson all played well.

But...
> Missouri State doesn't have many good shooters, and they have virtually no inside game. They played only 2 players who are listed as "Forwards", and both are listed at 6'8", but appeared an inch or more shorter than that. Yet, considering that, they managed to get 16 offensive rebounds, 26 second chance points, and 32 points in the paint. Bradley continues to give up too many offensive rebounds by opponents, and layups inside. Playing Corey Thomas and Darius Hannah together appeared to neutralize much of that. But Corey played only 18 minutes tonight, and he had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, and only 1 personal foul. I'd like to see him playing 30 minutes or more, especially against teams like MSU who lack inside size (as long as he's not in foul trouble).
> Almar was scoreless for the 3rd time in the last 4 games. Hopefully, he bounces back next game against Drake. But, at 6'9", he could also do damage inside against smaller teams when he's not hitting threes. Bradley's next opponent, Drake, is another team that usually plays 4 guards, and has a center who is listed at 6'8", but could be a little smaller. We need exploit our size advantage.
> Off night for Duke (5 points) and Zek (8 points), though both had a number of key plays that made a big difference tonight, and their defense was superb. Some of the credit goes to Missouri State and their coaches for a swarming defense on the perimeter. But both looked like they weren't looking to shoot much.

A win is a win. Bradley is now 13-2, and 4-0 in the MVC.
Bring on Drake!

[molar50]

For 30 min this game was hard for fans to get excited about our team. Too many unforced errors with turnovers and poor rebounding. However, I am encouraged by the free throws. Good teams have players that make their free throws. They made 18 out of 20. Outstanding

[FanSince82]

It looked like we going to score in the paint or die trying tonight! I think we needed that. It looked like we were allergic to the paint in Ind St. Great to see that get re established. It was ugly early but got better. May need a lot of that against a smaller Drake team. Lets fill the arena Wed and beat this Drake team!

[ghunt]

No, Linke should not be getting those minutes. It is almost looks like an act of desperation move to go to him. Although he may be understanding where to be on the floor, his talent level is very low and his athleticism is poor. He gets overmatched on defense and his offense is almost non existant. There was one play where he got the ball on the block, but immediately realized he couldn't do anything with it and passed it away and it wound up being an empty possession. Any of the other big men would have have scored on that. The effort is good, but it is effort x talent = performance, and talent=athleticism + sport IQ. The athleticism is low.

There is a coaching cliché that you can't coach size or speed. Meaning, if you have players with significant physical factors, you find a way to leverage that. We have Hannah, Thomas, Atlasan, and Jonovic with far more physical and basketball skills than Linke. However, the minutes for Hannah, Thomas and Atlasan were down, and Jonovic was nowhere. 7'1" planted near the basket on defense at times is a pretty considerable option. There is also the option of going small and forcing tempo. Intead we went with Linke who adds nothing and slugged out a game. We have barely beat teams that are in the lower half of the conference. They all know they can almost score at will inside. An answer needs to be found fast if we are to succeed through the conference grind and start playing top-half teams. But, at least we are winning. They guys play hard and have talent.

A lot of times coaches get fixated with playing kids who adhere to the system and know where to be on the field/court. They also fixate on who performs best in practice. That is good and understandable, but within reason. The objective is to play the best players who will perform better overall and win a game.

Last year we wound up giving Linke quite a few minutes and that was not a good sign down the stretch. Now we are putting him in early in the conference season. Next year we are very guard heavy with very few "big men." Not a good direction.

This is not doomsaying, this is still a very good team and it can win the regular season conference and it's post season. It also has the potential to win a couple games in the NCAA tournament. However, the pieces of the puzzle need to come together, and those pieces need to be the right ones.

[BengalFan14]

No, Linke should not be getting those minutes. It is almost looks like an act of desperation move to go to him. Although he may be understanding where to be on the floor, his talent level is very low and his athleticism is poor. He gets overmatched on defense and his offense is almost non existant. There was one play where he got the ball on the block, but immediately realized he couldn't do anything with it and passed it away and it wound up being an empty possession. Any of the other big men would have have scored on that. The effort is good, but it is effort x talent = performance, and talent=athleticism + sport IQ. The athleticism is low.

There is a coaching cliché that you can't coach size or speed. Meaning, if you have players with significant physical factors, you find a way to leverage that. We have Hannah, Thomas, Atlasan, and Jonovic with far more physical and basketball skills than Linke. However, the minutes for Hannah, Thomas and Atlasan were down, and Jonovic was nowhere. 7'1" planted near the basket on defense at times is a pretty considerable option. There is also the option of going small and forcing tempo. Intead we went with Linke who adds nothing and slugged out a game. We have barely beat teams that are in the lower half of the conference. They all know they can almost score at will inside. An answer needs to be found fast if we are to succeed through the conference grind and start playing top-half teams. But, at least we are winning. They guys play hard and have talent.

A lot of times coaches get fixated with playing kids who adhere to the system and know where to be on the field/court. They also fixate on who performs best in practice. That is good and understandable, but within reason. The objective is to play the best players who will perform better overall and win a game.

Last year we wound up giving Linke quite a few minutes and that was not a good sign down the stretch. Now we are putting him in early in the conference season. Next year we are very guard heavy with very few "big men." Not a good direction.

This is not doomsaying, this is still a very good team and it can win the regular season conference and it's post season. It also has the potential to win a couple games in the NCAA tournament. However, the pieces of the puzzle need to come together, and those pieces need to be the right ones.

Interesting points. Almar fouls too much and when he isn’t making shots he isn’t helpful. Corey is our best combo of defense, physicality and offense. The starting lineup has 5 shooters so the offense has max flexibility.

Whether Linke plays will depend on matchups. We needed him to beat up on MSU’s big boy - and it helped. And face it, this team has enough firepower to sacrifice one spot on offense.

Meta is another matchup piece to use. He isn’t consistent enough to play for long stretches and sometimes we just don’t need him. He looked pretty good early in the season but Thomas has been the better option. Which puts Almar in the 2nd rotation - and we really want his shooting so he’s gonna play some minutes. There aren’t enough minutes for all the 5 men so, for now, Meta is sacrificed.

Hannah plays as much as anyone when he doesn’t turn the ball over or play soft as he did in some previous games.

Lastly, a coach - at least a good coach - is not going to play kids who can’t perform in practice. That is how you earn playing time because you earn the coach’s trust. He - or she - is not going to put a kid in a game and hope they show performance that the kid hasn’t demonstrated in practice. That is career suicide. Lots of talented, athletic kids can’t crack a lineup because the coach doesn’t trust them.

[Da Coach]

...

Lastly, a coach - at least a good coach - is not going to play kids who can’t perform in practice. That is how you earn playing time because you earn the coach’s trust. He - or she - is not going to put a kid in a game and hope they show performance that the kid hasn’t demonstrated in practice. That is career suicide. Lots of talented, athletic kids can’t crack a lineup because the coach doesn’t trust them.

Right... Coach Wardle said before the game that Linke was going to play. And, from what I heard, it was likely because of Linke's dedication to practice and his work ethic. Sometimes coaches reward the players for what fans don't see. And it benefits the team in the long run by inspiring the other players to put in the work.

[BengalFan14]

Right... Coach Wardle said before the game that Linke was going to play. And, from what I heard, it was likely because of Linke's dedication to practice and his work ethic. Sometimes coaches reward the players for what fans don't see. And it benefits the team in the long run by inspiring the other players to put in the work.

Coach Wardle said in postgame that his veterans told him that Linke needed to play. And I’m sure that is because of what you said Coach. Also, sometimes we need the steady things versus the sexy things. The kid was certainly steady last night. I’m happy to see the kid get a chance to contribute in an important game.

[BUfan14]

No, Linke should not be getting those minutes. It is almost looks like an act of desperation move to go to him. Although he may be understanding where to be on the floor, his talent level is very low and his athleticism is poor. He gets overmatched on defense and his offense is almost non existant. There was one play where he got the ball on the block, but immediately realized he couldn't do anything with it and passed it away and it wound up being an empty possession. Any of the other big men would have have scored on that. The effort is good, but it is effort x talent = performance, and talent=athleticism + sport IQ. The athleticism is low.

There is a coaching cliché that you can't coach size or speed. Meaning, if you have players with significant physical factors, you find a way to leverage that. We have Hannah, Thomas, Atlasan, and Jonovic with far more physical and basketball skills than Linke. However, the minutes for Hannah, Thomas and Atlasan were down, and Jonovic was nowhere. 7'1" planted near the basket on defense at times is a pretty considerable option. There is also the option of going small and forcing tempo. Intead we went with Linke who adds nothing and slugged out a game. We have barely beat teams that are in the lower half of the conference. They all know they can almost score at will inside. An answer needs to be found fast if we are to succeed through the conference grind and start playing top-half teams. But, at least we are winning. They guys play hard and have talent.

A lot of times coaches get fixated with playing kids who adhere to the system and know where to be on the field/court. They also fixate on who performs best in practice. That is good and understandable, but within reason. The objective is to play the best players who will perform better overall and win a game.

Last year we wound up giving Linke quite a few minutes and that was not a good sign down the stretch. Now we are putting him in early in the conference season. Next year we are very guard heavy with very few "big men." Not a good direction.

This is not doomsaying, this is still a very good team and it can win the regular season conference and it's post season. It also has the potential to win a couple games in the NCAA tournament. However, the pieces of the puzzle need to come together, and those pieces need to be the right ones.

Our post deficiencies are not new this year on both ends. Fouling issues also create situations where more guys have to play. Thomas is growing and getting better as his first D1 year goes on. He’s clearly our best option. Solid offensively and growing. Good rebounder and good defender.

Unfortunately, Almar really one has one position. He’s not quick enough or a ball handler enough for the three spot and he’s undersized strength wise and too perimeter oriented for a 5 man. But with Hannah wanting to be a four man, Almar is stuck as a five when they are in together. He is also struggling big time right now and I have to believe confidence is playing into that (partly stemming from his fouling issues which he seems frustrated with on the court and are partly because of playing out of position). I think we have to keep trying him though, as his shooting can be really valuable.

I disagree Linke is a problem as your few minute a half third 5 man. He’s not an offensive threat, but he knows that and doesn’t turn it over and makes good passes. I think both last year and last night he helped Bradley on defense and we played better as a whole. I think Brian was too stubborn both years waiting as long into the year not using Linke. Meta is the alternate and while he has size, he is no more athletic than Linke but is slower on defense to being in the right spot. Linke is also the better rebounder.

So in essence the choice is a couple easy post buckets Meta can get per game with his size and better offensive scoring and free throw drawing game than Linke, or Linke’s better rebounding and defense along with better ball security. There may be times to try Meta still, but in terms of what this team needs (we struggle with post defense and rebounding) I believe Linke is the better option. And both years the players seem to agree, because I’m almost positive I remember Brian saying they requested he play last year too when he started playing.

I’m always a fan of small ball lineups in college, but with their big men creating problems yesterday I don’t think it was an option. The game before we did try Davis as a four and Hannah/Thomas as five men with Three guards (I think it was Johnson/Deen, Burch/Dillon, Zek) and I think that lineup is good and offensively dangerous in the right matchup. I’ve long said Davis can be a good stretch four in the right matchups because he is tall enough and rebounds well enough. Zek has the height to be a typical three man as well.

[tomahawk chop]

To me our biggest problems lately have been the struggles to make shots in the first 10 minutes of the game. We need to have better starts period or we will continue to struggle with putting bad teams away early in each and every game. By allowing this to happen we are giving the opposing teams more confidence that they can actually win these games.
I thought last nights crowd looked like the biggest one of the season so the numbers do not match up with that at all for whatever reason. I know coach liked the defense we played last night yet to me we cannot let one player score that many points on a given night.

[Da Coach]

Post-game locker room - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1875919167976845323

[Classof77]

I just want to give a small shout out to Hannah for showing good sportsmanship. In the second half one of the Missouri State players went down hard near the base line. The play quickly moved towards our end of the court, and Hannah stayed behind long enough to offer a hand up to the MS player. (Who refused it.)

I thought Linke played very well. And as was mentioned earlier, in the post game Coach Wardle said his veterans were calling for him to insert Linke into the lineup.

[Tommy]

We’re 13-2 and alone in first place, so hard for me to find much to complain about. The Drake game on Wednesday should really tell us more about this team, as we can’t allow them to come to our house and leave with a win.

[tomahawk chop]

I am not complaining about winning, just think our offense was much better then it has been the last 3 games.